THE KEY TO WASHINGTON

From Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Harper's
Ferry, Virginia, lay the Alleghany Mountains, an almost impassable barrier to
the movement of armies. Here we see them sloping toward the gap at Harper's
Ferry on the Potomac. The approach to this was made easy from the South by the
Shenandoah Valley, the facile and favorite avenue of advance by the Confederates
when threatening invasion of the enemy's territory. The scene is of the
dismantled bridge across Armstrong Run. Driving General Banks' forces up the
Valley and forcing him across the Potomac, Jackson saved Richmond from McClellan
in 1862. Up the Valley came Lee the following year, striking terror to the North
by the invasion that was only checked at Gettysburg. This eastern gap, provided
by nature in the Alleghanies, became a veritable gateway of terror to the
Federals, for through it lay open the path for sudden approach upon Washington
on the part of the Confederates.